May 4, 2010

Montana Larkspur

Montana larkspur, Delphinium bicolor, Buttercup family

The showy part of these flowers are actually the five sepals, and the four petals form a small cluster in the center of the flower. The top sepal forms a hollow spur which produces nectar. but because of the depth of the spur, it is accessible only to insects with long feeding structures such as butterflies and bumblebees.

Larkspurs contain delphinine which is poisonous to cattle and highly toxic to humans.

I’ve read that they are quite toxic, but I really don’t know how to quantify that. We have had delphiniums in our flower beds for a long time, but we would be pretty careful if there were small children around, and we were when our kids were little. They really are pretty!

During my kindergarten years in Oregon, we had these in the yard. I always liked them, but thank goodness it never occurred to me to eat one of them. “Larkspur Salad” doesn’t sound good, even if it had ranch dressing on it.

Yes, I have heard that. Lots of things in my garden could be deadly, and I am careful.

I remember my Dad removing several different plants from the hay pastures. One was jimson weed, now I wish I knew what the others were. That was when I lived in Oklahoma. The only cows I see around here, are at dairys.

We also have Delphiniums in our flower gardens but they are much different than this one and they also flower later in the summer. I’ve not seen this one in a domestic setting and of course because of its toxicity the ranchers try to eradicate it from their range. There are still lots around though.